ESPN will be streaming every game of the new XFL season, including the playoffs, to fans in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
This new deal will give fans the chance to watch more than 40 XFL football games live and on-demand on desktop, tablet, Android TV and mobile.
The 2020 XFL is due to kick off on Saturday 8 February when the DC Defenders host the Seattle Dragons at 7pm GMT.
Bragg gaming Group have announced an agreement, in partnership with Kambi, with Seneca Gaming Corporation.
The deal will need to be approved by regulators, however it signals clear intent from a U.S. Casino to move into sports betting, as this becomes their first major casino and sportsbook deal.
Dominic Mansour, CEO, Bragg Gaming Group, said: “The agreement with Seneca and Kambi is a game-changer for Bragg. The U.S. casino and sports betting market is rapidly expanding, and Bragg’s ORYX’s expertise in PAM, casino, marketing and operations services, and integrations between land based and online, positions us well to take advantage of this growth. Entering the market with two such strong partners as Kambi and Seneca is an ideal scenario.”
Kristian Nylén, Chief Executive Officer of Kambi, commented: “I’m delighted to agree this sports betting agreement with Seneca Gaming Corporation, along with Bragg Gaming, a platform and gaming provider that will enable a fully-managed sportsbook and gaming service.”
Speaking on the deal, Holly Gagnon, President and CEO of Seneca Gaming Corporation, added: “The agreement with Bragg and Kambi is a huge win for our customers. Providing access to sports betting has been something that our customers have long looked forward to, and Bragg’s world-class casino and player account management services, together with Kambi’s market-leading sports wagering products, will create a fantastic customer experience that we can’t wait to offer.”
RC Celta and the Maldives government have signed a sponsorship and collaboration agreement for the next three years.
The agreement is worth close to a reported $2.5 million, and includes the promotion of the country on the first team’s home and training jersey sleeves as well as on the official bus and various areas in the Abanca Balaídos stadium and training camps.
RC Celta President Carlos Mouriño said: “It is an honour and an enormous satisfaction for us, RC Celta, that we have been chosen to promote the beauties of their islands,” he said during the presentation of the team’s new sponsor.”
“We would like to thank RC Celta for allowing us to bring the sunny side of the Maldives to this club. We’d like us to be the sunny side of the RC Celta from now on,” commented Minister of Tourism for the Maldives government, Ali Waheed. “This agreement will greatly promote tourism and sport and will strengthen the backbone of our national team and all of our country’s football.”
Keith Pelley is the Chief Executive Officer of The European Tour, he will be speaking at iSportconnect’s Leadership Masterclass on the 27th of November in London.
He will be joined by Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga and a number of other speakers at the event later this month.
Keith became the fourth Chief Executive in the history of The European Tour in August 2015. Prior to joining The European Tour, he was President of Rogers Media in Toronto where he was responsible for leading the overall operations of the company’s diverse portfolio, including Television, Radio, Publishing, Digital Media, The Shopping Channel, subscription-based content services, the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre.
Prior to that, he was Executive Vice-President of Strategic Planning at CTVglobemedia, President of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, President and CEO of the Toronto Argonauts Football Club, and President of The Sports Network in Canada, a company he first joined as an Editorial Assistant in 1986.
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To register your interest in attending the 2019 iSportconnect Leadership Masterclass, please contact Joe at joe@isportconnect.com
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PTI Consulting has been renamed as PTI Smarter Ventures following the coming together with stadium digital, media and advertising specialist Smarter Venues Ltd.
Mike Bohndiek, Chief Executive Officer at PTI Smarter Venues, says: “We are excited at the opportunity to help clubs drive technological change and deliver immediate commercial return on their investments. smarterVENUES have made steady progress with their media offering in the last six months and now PTI are able to add data, insights and smarter delivery systems to the mix.”
“With our updated portfolio of Consulting, Media and Advertising and Managed Services propositions we can now work with a venue to deliver technological transformation, increase their revenues and manage their technology estate all under one PTI relationship.
“The convergence between sport, technology and media is ever increasing and now widely acknowledged; so being able to provide all three elements from a single source is a significant step forward.”
Eurosport has announced that it has reached a two-year TV and digital rights partnership with the International Tennis Federation to show the Davis Cup Finals in six countries.
Fans in the UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland will be able to watch the new and revamped Davis Cup Finals on Eurosport and Eurosport Player.
This year’s event is set to be extremely interesting, with the format having changed massively from the year-long event, into a one-week tournament between 18 competing nations.
Laurent Prud’homme, SVP Rights Acquisitions & Syndication for Eurosport, said: “There is great synergy between the Davis Cup and Eurosport with both synonymous with passion. The Davis Cup always brings out incredible displays of patriotism in all players representing their home country, while at Eurosport we continue to power people’s passions for tennis by delivering the best events to millions of fans across the continent.
“We are delighted to partner with the ITF and Kosmos for this event, an agreement that serves to reinforce Eurosport’s position as the Home of Tennis in Europe.”
Formula One have agreed a new extension on their broadcasting deal with ESPN for the next three years.
The American sports giant will be showing the races without any commercials on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC and all of the practice and qualifying sessions will be broadcast on their network’s platforms either live or on-demand.
ESPN have seen a 19% increase in viewership of Formula One in the USA this year, with the channel also agreeing to continue to show the Formula Two and Formula Three championships.
Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and scheduling, said: “When we brought Formula One back to ESPN two years ago, we had faith that Formula One fans in the United States would support the coverage. That faith has been rewarded many times over, and we greatly appreciate how fans have responded in record numbers.”
Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One, added: “The US is one of our key focuses for growth and ESPN know and understand the US sports audience like no one else. The combination of their dedicated coverage and Formula One’s amazing racing spectacle is a perfect partnership for us to build on our recent success with US audiences.”
McLaren have agreed to terminate their current sponsorship deal with Petrobas by mutual consent.
The deal had been under threat for past fortnight ever since the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, tweeted that the deal should be discontinued, after he described it as an “absurdity committed on the taxpayer by the previous government”.
Petrobas’ contract with the Formula One team had been due to last until 2023, however 64% of the company is government-owned, so as soon as Bolsonaro inserted his opinion it appeared only a matter of time until the deal was ceased.
“We see in McLaren a commitment to innovation and also the possibility of future partnerships,” said Roberto Castello Branco, Chief Executive of Petrobas, not entirely dismissing a potential deal again in the future.
Andy Edwards, the Chief Executive Officer of Nitro Circus, has been confirmed as a speaker at this year’s inaugural Regional SportAccord Pan America.
Edwards will participate in a panel session on ‘Rebranding – Opportunities, Challenges and Quick Wins’ at the event on the afternoon of Thursday, 12 December.
He will discuss the development of Nitro Circus from the global action sport collective’s initial focus on the creation of content to the formation of the Nitro Circus live tour and the Nitro World Games.
Edwards, who was appointed Nitro Circus’ CEO in February 2019 after two years as President and 10 years after launch of the organisation, which he co-founded, said: “Nitro Circus has undertaken an extensive development and expansion programme in recent years which has seen it become one of the world’s leading live events brands.
“In this Panel Session at Regional SportAccord Pan America I’m looking forward to sharing our experiences and discussing rebranding beyond the more traditional, simple understanding of an organisation perhaps changing its logo or color scheme. I want to talk about how we can navigate the challenges of expanding an existing brand to diversify without travelling too far away from the ethos of the core brand.”
Malcolm Hardman, Business Development Manager at SportAccord, said: “Nitro Circus is one of the most original and forward-thinking brands in world sport and we are delighted that Andy will bring his experience to the Conference programme at this inaugural Regional SportAccord Pan America 2019.
“Andy’s involvement in Nitro Circus’ transformation over the last decade will be of great interest to any organisations considering how they can adapt and continue to engage with sports fans in a changing world.”
Goodform have completed their latest Sports Fanel Panel survey, in which they asked fans their opinion on VAR for a second time, to see if their views on the technology had changed after seeing it in action during Premier League games.
The early results indicate an overwhelmingly negative view from fans in comparison to how they viewed VAR prior to the season.
Now into the new season, the Sports Fan Panel showed a big drop-off to 31%, from the initial 50%, who thought VAR would have a positive impact on the league. While the amount of fans who felt VAR was negatively impacting the product has now risen to 34%, from 22% who thought this would be the case prior.
From the first 80 games of the season, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited said that there have been 475 incidents checked by VAR. With 59% of people saying VAR had been used well to review goals.
Results were markedly worse from match-going fans, with 42% stating it was worsening their experience of the match. They added reasoning to their concerns, 74% feeling that they did not receive enough information and 61% that the decision took too long. In the first survey, the time taken for a decision had been pointed out as a concern, with 85% worried it would take too long. However, 70% of fans do believe that by showing the incident on the big screen to give them more information would help.
But viewing from home the perspective was changed greatly, with 45% of people feeling it was positive and the same percentage believing it was negative. For home-viewers, 63% did say too much time was still being taken over the decision, but 60% felt there was enough information given to them.
The biggest change that could be made in the view of the fans at home, with 78% agreeing on the issue, is that referees and assistants should be mic’d up so that fans are able to hear their decision-making. Fans also were of the opinion that violent conduct and diving should also be reviewed.
Overall, while these results are not overly positive, there is still a long time for VAR to improve, having only been introduced into the Premier League this year. It will remain to be seen whether fans will warm to it over time.